


Out There

by orphan_account



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ender's Game, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Multi, deals with heavy themes, it'll be pretty angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 20:48:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9202580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Near lightspeed interplanetary travel is here, meaning colonizing planets similar to Earth is a startling reality. Yuuri Katsuki is ready to leave Earth behind and embark on the two and a half year journey aboard the Titanic. Eighty years will have passed on Earth by the time he arrives, meaning everyone he left behind will surely be dead.But the worst part might be the Nishigori triplets having to deal with a lack of social media.





	1. Introduction to the World

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! This is just the explanation chapter, so feel free to skip it if you know the basics of Ender's Game and near-lightspeed travel. That being said, I'll probably explain it a bit more in later chapters, since I know it can be a bit confusing at first.

Here's a bit about the series of novels that this AU is slightly based off of. Ender's Game is a 1985 science fiction novel about a genius six year old boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, and how he's chosen to go to _Battle School_ , where children learn how to be great commanders to defeat the "Buggers", a seemingly hostile alien race.

 Ender is a third child, which is illegal, but his older brother Peter was too violent to be right for Battle School, and his older sister Valentine was too passive. The government wanted Ender to be a mix of the two. Peter and the kids in school terrorize Ender, until, at six years old, he beats a bully into submission. This is when he is accepted into the school, which is a ship in orbit of the Earth. He struggles a lot in Battle School, and the first novel ranges from when he is six to when he is twelve.

It's a truly horrifying story, in all honesty, but it's without a doubt the most brilliant book I've ever read. The author, Orson Scott Card, is a homophobic man, so I don't support him, but the series he's put out is truly incredible, and I recommend reading it.

The main novel is not what this AU is based off of, however. _Ender in Exile_  is the novella somewhat sequel (technically the real sequel would be considered _Speaker for the Dead_ , which personally is a novel that trumps Harry Potter in my opinion) about fifteen year old Ender and hundreds of other colonists leaving Earth for an abandoned Formic (technical name for _bugger_ ) world. Due to the near lightspeed travel their ship is travelling at, the journey will only take some two years for them, while around eighty will have passed on Earth. 

The main series of events in _Ender in Exile_ won't be the focus of this AU. I'll be doing my own take on the _colonizing another planet_  thing, with, obviously, Yuri On Ice characters.

I'm probably gonna have to tag this as angst, because there'll be a lot of themes exploring lost family and dealing with death and a lack of everything you know. It'll be told third person, with the narration bouncing around from character to character, much like in the book this fic is based off. 

Here's an explanation for lightspeed and near-lightspeed travel.

Lightspeed travel has yet to be discovered, even in this universe. Even in the Ender's Game universe, it's only discovered 2000 years after the first novel takes place. Lightspeed travel is instant, whereas near-lightspeed travel puts the people traveling at such a fast pace that they don't age as much as they travel, while the world rotates normally around them. They still age in the time that it takes for them to get there while traveling, which is a significantly shorter time than waiting is for people outside the ship.

 

All in all, I hope I'm not sounding pretentious, and I hope you enjoy :)


	2. One

Yuuri looks up at the ship that's taking up a few miles of space in a Detriot space center. Most ships come out of Detriot these days, unlike the year before, where Tokyo was the place to be. The _Titanic_ is huge, and it'll seem even bigger on the inside, people say. It's the most advanced ship yet, he's lucky to be traveling on it.

He's going to New Earth with Yuuko and Takeshi and their triplets. His parents had been too close to death to qualify, and Mari wouldn't leave without them. Minako was staying on Earth for the rest of her days. 

He doesn't blame them, not really. Yuuri knew he was apart of a minority, wanting to travel the stars. He was lucky the Nishigoris were willing to go with him. 

"Nishigori party!" calls a man with a microphone up on the landing platform. It was a takeoff platform really, nothing would be landing there for years to come. Yuuri takes a deep breath and stands up, walking down the isle and up the stairs with Yuuko, Takeshi, and the triplets trailing behind him. 

The man at the microphone hands everyone a packet, then points to the door into the ship. He falls behind the Nishigoris to look at the map of the ship, and Yuuko grabs his wrist to keep him close. He hears _Feltsman party_  in the background, but it all fades away when they walk through the doors. There's two rows of seats on both sides of the narrow room, and the seats go up several stories. 

"Yuuri, we're on the fifth story, seats 12 through 18," says Yuuko, and Yuuri can hear the awe seeping into her voice. Takeshi leads the way into the elevator, and it shoots up and stops abruptly when they reach their destination, making Yuuri's stomach jump into his throat. 

They walk down the isle until they reach their seats. Yuuko and Takeshi sit on both sides of the girls, leaving Yuuri in the last seat in the row. 

"Mama, I want something to eat," whines Lutz to Yuuko, who shakes her head.

"So do I, but I told you we couldn't eat for twenty four hours before taking off."

"Why?" asks Loop in the same whining tone as Lutz.

"We'll get sick," responds Yuuko patiently. 

"Dad, can I post this?" asks Axel, sounding considerably more upbeat than her sisters. She shows the phone in her hands to Takeshi.

He grabs it with a sigh. "You aren't supposed to post things from the ship, you know that."

Now Axel is whining like the other two.

Yuuri listens to their back and forth for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep. It's four am, way too early in his mind. He dreams about a new planet and aliens, with the triplets' jabbering in the background.

He's shaken awake by Yuuko witha voice on the intercom booming through the ship.

"So those are the safety protocols," says the man on the intercom. Yuuri immediately panics. He missed the safety protocols? His breathing starts to get fast, and he wrings his hands together, but a tap on the shoulder shakes him out of his panic long enough to turn.

The person sitting on the other side of him looks friendly. "Don't worry about it," he says with a welcoming smile, "If something happened during this phase, we would just be staying where we are."

"Thanks," says Yuuri.

"No problem," replies the boy, and then turns back to listen to the intercom.

"During the takeoff phase, you'll be strapped into your seat for about seven hours, while we leave the atmosphere. After that, you'll be shown out of the room you're currently in and be taken to your living quarters, where you'll be spending your two and a half years on the _Titanic._

"The living section of the ship takes up four floors, and it about a half a block wide on all sides. There is a communal cafeteria, but also a grocery store and kitchens if you wish to prepare your own food. There are music and dance rooms for artistic release, and physical education classes will be held weekly. The on-board body can elect any social events they please, so long as they are approved by the captain. 

"Once you are allowed out of your seat, the gravity aboard the ship will be changed to replicate gravity on New Earth, something slightly below the gravity on Earth, but above what would be seen on the moon..."

The briefing goes on for about an hour, and then the ship starts trembling. The man on the intercom announces that they'll be taking off soon, and then Yuuri can feel the ship shoot up. His last thought before he's knocked out is how glad he is to have not eaten in twenty four hours.

 

-

 

_"Feltsman party!"_

_There. Those are the words Yuri dreads. This means leaving...everything. Grandpa is what he's most worried about. His grandpa is gone, his cat is gone, his house is...everything is gone._

_Yakov motions for him to stand up, and he does so stiffly. Mila grips his wrist in what she thinks is a comforting way, but he doesn't appreciate it. As usual, Victor's face is lit up. Georgi looks like he's going to cry, no surprises there. Lilia stands at the front of the line, somehow standing next to Yakov without breaking something. Good. Maybe if they get along they'll treat Yuri better._

_He's handed a packet describing the ship, with a map on it._

_"They name all the ships after sunken ships, it's good luck!" he hears Victor chirp to Georgi. Georgi doesn't respond, just keeps walking._

_Time flashes forward, and he's strapped into his seat, thinking about Grandpa. Just as he drifts off to sleep -_

He wakes up with a start. Mila isn't next to him anymore, the seven hours must've passed. Maybe he'll go find her later, but now he needs to find somewhere private. He's on the seventh floor, and he takes the exit into the living quarters of the ship. If he'd been in a better state, his jaw probably would've hit the floor. Instead, he remembers what the captain said about finding places.

He goes over to the nearest terminal and taps the screen to light it up, choosing his location. _Bathroom._  His name lights up on a strip on the ceiling, and he follows the words down the hall. They stop in front of a bathroom, and he goes in.

He's calm as he goes into the stall and cries. Then frantic. Calm again. Frantic again. He goes back and forth like that for a few minutes before someone stops outside his stall.

"Are you okay?" 

So it's a man. _Of course it's a man, it's a fucking men's restroom_. He doesn't answer.

"Did you leave some family behind?" asks the man. He won't reply this time either.

"My grandpa." Dammit. 

"I know how you feel, I left behind my parents and my little sister."

He doesn't sound sad. "Why?"

"Because I wanted a life outside Kazakhstan."

"So what, you'll leave them behind and forget about them?" he asks angrily. He shouldn't be angry, he doesn't know this guy.

"No, not at all. I need a chance to start over, it wasn't going to happen there. Plus, I've always dreamed of going to space. My family gave me their blessing, it's okay."

"My grandfather couldn't go because the health tests said he only had five years left to live."

"Yeah, they only let people that have at least seven on board. It makes sense, you don't want anyone to die on the ship."

"I know."

"Is your panic attack over?"

"I think so."

"Do you want me to leave?" 

Yuri thinks for a second. "Yes."

"Okay, I'm in room 210, you can message me from the terminal in your room. If you need someone to talk to."

"There's a doctor on board, whatever," Yuri growls, finally feeling more himself.

"Okay," says the man, and he hears the door close as he leaves.

Shit. That was not good. Maybe he _should_  see a doctor.

Yuri finds his room the same way he found the bathroom, his name in LED lights trailing along the ceiling as he follows. It's a snug fit, but thankfully he isn't related to his guardians, so he gets his own private room. 

The main room contains a small kitchen and living room with a couch and terminal, which probably streams movies and music, along with other things. There's two doors leading off the main room, and he looks into both. One is a bedroom with a dresser and bed and nightstand and nothing else, and the other is a bathroom.

He goes back into the main room to see if his bags are there yet, since they said they'd deliver them. Sure enough, there are two duffel bags waiting behind the terminal. He hauls them to his room, unpacking everything and putting it away. There's a framed picture of him and his grandpa, and one of his cat. He puts both on the nightstand and moves on to putting the clothes he packed into the dresser.

Yuri goes into the main room (living room, he supposes) and turns on the terminal. New terminals are always hard to get used to, even though they're supposed to be universal. This one is pretty fancy, he thinks, it's got movies and comics and messaging enabled. He digs a bit more and finds a list of activities offered on board. Hm, maybe he'll try his hand at theatre. 

The offer from the guy in the bathroom is still on his mind. He doesn't want to say anything, really, just wants to ignore it and forget it ever happened. So he does.

 

Yuri goes to the cafeteria instead, on the first deck. He hasn't eaten in twenty four hours, which is probably a new record for him. The food isn't all American, even though American food isn't that bad. He piles a mix of foods from different cultures onto his plate and goes to find a place to sit in the vast room. He finds a spot in the corner and eats peacefully for a while before Mila and Victor find him.

"Yuri!" she calls cheerfully, rushing towards him with a plate full of junk food. Victor trails behind her, choosing something only a little more healthy. She must see him eyeing her plate, because she winks. "Don't tell Yakov," she says in a stage whisper, and he doesn't humor her.

"What's wrong, Yuri?" asks Victor. Damn. Yuri knew he wouldn't get it past Victor. Mila probably noticed something was wrong too, she just doesn't want to piss him off in a crowded room. There's probably three hundred people in here right now, he _really_  doesn't want to make a scene.

"Nothing," he mutters, ducking his head.

"Vitya, he doesn't want to talk about it," Mila chides him, and Yuri almost thanks her aloud before stopping himself. 

Victor doesn't say anything else, so Yuri looks up and keeps eating. That is, he keeps eating until a piercing scream catches his attention. His head shoots up to find the source of the noise, and there's not one, but _three_  girls screaming. 

"Can they tone it down?" he growls, and goes to stand up. Mila pulls him down, giggling.

"Listen to what they're crying about!" she says. 

" _What do you mean Snapflo won't work?"_

_"Yeah, how are we supposed to document this for the internet?"_

_"Our followers_ need _us, you don't understand!"_

Some kid is watching over them, looking flustered, as he well should. Yuri would look flustered too, if he let his kids act so outrageously. 

"Hey! Idiot!" he yells in English, "Tell your stupid kids to be quiet!"

The guy laughs nervously before shouting back. "They aren't mine, sorry!"

They quiet down after that, but he can still see silent tears streaming down their faces. Stupid kids. Yuri hates kids. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, first real chapter! Not much, but I'm working on three AUs right now, so I wanna be able to work on all of them :) The way Yuri finds his way around places is the throwback to the original Ender's Game...green-green-brown anyone?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just finishing up the first real chapter now, so that should be up within a few hours. If anyone wants my (mostly unused) tumblr, leave a comment and I'll link it in the second real chapter.


End file.
